In the Service of Young People? Studies and Reflections on Media ...

When Childhood Gets Commercialized,Can Children Be Protected? 1Juliet B. Schor<strong>In</strong> 2004, a significant debate about <strong>the</strong> effects <strong>and</strong> even <strong>the</strong> ethics <strong>of</strong> marketingto children emerged in <strong>the</strong> U.S. The catalyst has been <strong>the</strong> growing epidemic <strong>of</strong>childhood obesity <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> related rise in medical diseases such as hypertension<strong>and</strong> type II diabetes (Surgeon General 2001). Children’s advocates have arguedthat food marketing is a major cause <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> shift to unhealthy diets dominated byadded sugar, fat <strong>and</strong> salt. They point to <strong>the</strong> billions <strong>of</strong> dollars <strong>of</strong> food advertising<strong>and</strong> marketing which children are exposed to, on television, in schools, on <strong>the</strong><strong>In</strong>ternet, <strong>and</strong> in <strong>the</strong> grocery store (Nestle 2002, Brownell <strong>and</strong> Horgen 2003).Although it did not gain much traction before <strong>the</strong> recent attention to junk foodmarketing, <strong>the</strong> critique goes beyond food to include o<strong>the</strong>r addictive substancessuch as tobacco <strong>and</strong> alcohol, as well as <strong>the</strong> marketing <strong>of</strong> violence, unhealthybody images, <strong>and</strong> materialism. Social scientists <strong>and</strong> pediatricians have compiledan impressive array <strong>of</strong> research results about <strong>the</strong> impact <strong>of</strong> various aspects <strong>of</strong>consumer culture on children. (See Robinson et al. 1998, 2001, Sargent et al. 2001,Kasser 2002, Strasburger <strong>and</strong> Wilson 2002; <strong>and</strong> Schor 2004, among o<strong>the</strong>rs.) Activistshave argued that children are suffering from ‘marketing-related diseases’(see commercialalert.org), <strong>and</strong> that marketers are engaging in a ‘hostile takeover<strong>of</strong> childhood’ (Linn 2004, see also Nader 1996). <strong>In</strong> addition to <strong>the</strong>ir opposition toparticular products <strong>and</strong> messages, many critics believe that advertising to childrenis inherently unfair, even exploitative, because children are unable to underst<strong>and</strong>ads or resist <strong>the</strong>ir persuasiveness.The critics are motivated in part by adverse trends in child well-being. Youthare suffering from rising rates <strong>of</strong> obesity, obesity-related diseases, mental <strong>and</strong>emotional disorders such as depression, substance abuse, suicide, attention disorders,mood disorders, behavioral disorders, <strong>and</strong> eating disorders (Kelleher etal. 2000). Record numbers <strong>of</strong> children are on drugs to address <strong>the</strong>se problems.The average level <strong>of</strong> anxiety among American youth is now equivalent to <strong>the</strong>rate recorded among children admitted to psychiatric facilities in <strong>the</strong> 1950s27